Classical Reception in Medieval Preaching: Pyramus and Thisbe in Three Fifteenth-Century Sermons

The essay focuses on late medieval preaching as framework for classical reception by presenting three late fifteen-century Franciscan friars who included the story of Pyramus and Thisbe in their sermons: Conrad/Johann Gritsch, Johann Meder, and Jacob de Lenda. In their sermons, the two lovers and their tragic destiny were read as an allegory of the perfect love between Christ and the human soul. On the one hand, each detail of the Ovidian fabula was deciphered as a Christian symbol. On the other hand, the dramatic love of Pyramus and Thisbe was thought to be able to inflame the audience to an equally passionate love for Christ. The analysis of the use of this fabula in preaching allows to discuss the possible interaction between classical reception studies and medieval sermon studies. Moreover, this analysis points out that - in the same age of the humanistic rediscovery of the classics - preaching was (still) an highly influential medium of dissemination of the classical heritage to a large audience. These model sermon collections were among the actual bestsellers in the European market and all across Europe thousands of preachers prepared their own sermons adopting these models. In this perspective, the essay firstly consider how these preachers presented Piramus and Thisbe and in which way they set in a long-standing tradition of Christian allegorical readings of this fabula. Secondly, it examines how an Ovidian fabula worked in a sermon and which functions it had. Finally, it addresses the possibilities and limits of a medieval sermon scholar in addressing the field of classical reception studies.